Retrospective 2017 – A Year in Film

June

Not Much Cure for the Summertime Blues

Image sources: Universal, Sony, 20th Century Fox & Netflix

As usual the start of summer proved to be a mixed bag at UK cinemas, with heavily hyped blockbusters of varying quality leading the way, this month arriving in the form of the hugely disappointing Tom Cruise-led ‘The Mummy‘ reboot, an inauspicious way to launch Universal’s ‘Dark Universe’, as well as the far more memorable Edgar Wright crime/action road romp ‘Baby Driver‘. Away from adrenaline-fuelled fare, British audiences were treated to period dramas like ‘Churchill‘ and ‘My Cousin Rachel‘, as well as socially conscious creature-feature and latest Netflix film ‘Okja‘.

Oh Yes It’s Ladies’ Night

Image source: Warner Bros.

In a year with disappointing box office returns and a particularly poor summer, and with the talk of equality and female empowerment hanging heavy in the Hollywood air, it seems like destiny that a female-led superhero epic would save the day. ‘Wonder Woman‘ gave star Gal Gadot a chance to expand on her impressive debut as the wondrous woman herself in last year’s much maligned ‘Batman v Superman‘, teaming up with director Patty Jenkins to give us one of the most well-received and successful blockbusters of the year—claiming a valuable seat for women at the modern superhero and cinematic universe table.

Those We Lost

Image source: MGM, Warner, Paramount, Universal & Momentum

The first month of summer this year saw the passing of many figures from the small and big screen, including American actress Glenne Headly (62) (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Mr. Holland’s Opus) as well as pop-culture icon and psychedelic Batman Adam West (88) (Batman, Family Guy). We also saw the loss of Italian actress Anita Pallenberg (73) (Barbarella, Performance) and American actor Stephen Furst (63) (Animal House, St. Elsewhere), along with veteran Swedish actor Michael Nyqvist (56) (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, John Wick).

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